The talks did not produce any agreements, but the two sides said they would meet again next month.

The negotiations are part of a concerted attempt by major Western powers to resolve one of the toughest disputes left from the 1990s ethnic conflicts in the Balkans. At issue is whether Kosovo should gain full independence or remain part of Serbia and Montenegro.

Albert Rohan, the UN's deputy envoy at the talks, said this first round of talks was held in a "cooperative spirit," and mediators found some common ground.

"Of course [an agreement] was not to be expected and it was not the purpose to achieve concrete agreements in a specific field," Rohan said. "This meeting served to present the various approaches of the two sides to decentralization and to explore common ground, and in this I think we were quite successful."